How Will Wearable Technology Affect Video Advertising?
Smart watches, Google Glass, and other wearable technology are growing as one of the world’s latest trends. What does the rise in popularity of these new gadgets mean for the online video industry? It means advertisers will have to adapt to smaller screens, and try to create a more personalized user experience.
Wearable technology like fitness bands, smart watches, and Google Glass are expected to generate around $3 billion in 2014, according to Deloitte. These gadgets connect to all sorts of devices – including mobile devices and smart phones – that stream video. This means, hypothetically, your target consumer could always be connected and able to stream video!
As wearable computing develops in the years to come, price-per-unit will come down, and market share will increase. Wearable devices will commonly be found on your average consumer, just like iPads, smartphones, and tablets have made their way into the hands of over a third of the US population. While two-way communication will likely be a primary use for objects like smart watches, entertainment is sure to take over the entire wearable technology industry with video, games, and special apps.
The retail industry may also soon benefit from these wonderfully wearable devices. Shoppers can simply view a video about a particular product via smart watch or Google Glass, enhancing the buying experience and speeding up the purchasing process right there on the showroom floor. Promotional product and service videos will be made available to all customers, everywhere, at any time with this technology.
Wearable technology will also affect hospitals and medical professionals; instructional videos and pharmaceutical lectures can be viewed via wearable smart glasses. Medical bracelets could give real-time health updates to nurses and attending physicians. Patients could be monitored via wrist watch surveillance! The opportunities are endless.
While the advantages to having this new wearable technology are quite obvious, there are also a few concerns that should be considered. Privacy issues are a constant cause for concern, especially in the digital age, where everything seems to be recorded and posted on the Internet for the world to see. Wearable technology could essentially capture video of anyone at any time, making some people uncomfortable. It is predicted that a face-blocking technology will be developed to resolve this concern, so you can block your identity from all video-recording devices.
Online video is bound to become a huge part of everybody’s everyday life. Wearable video screens offer all sorts of innovative opportunities for businesses and consumers alike. Advertisers will need to adapt to the idea that video ads will be seen on a smaller scale, and should be personalized for the consumer to create the most effective user-experience. While security issues and privacy regulations will likely need to be put into place, the benefits of wearable technology are sure to take the digital world to a whole new level.
